It is known that consumers desire to use cosmetic and personal care compositions that enhance the appearance of keratinous substrates such as hair and skin by changing the color of the hair or skin and/or by imparting various properties to hair or skin such as shine and conditioning. The process of changing the color of hair can involve either depositing an artificial color onto the hair which provides a different shade or color to the hair or lifting the color of the hair, such as for example, from a dark brown shade to a medium brown or a light brown shade.
The process of lifting the color of keratinous substrates such as hair, also known as lightening, generally requires the use of compositions that comprise at least one oxidizing agent. The role of this oxidizing agent is to break down the melanin of hair, which, depending on the nature of the oxidizing agent present, results in a more or less pronounced lightening of the color of hair fibers. In certain instances, hair lightening compositions may possess an alkalinity such that these compositions may have a pH value of above 7 and may require the presence of an alkaline agent.
In order to improve the performance of compositions for lifting color, the use of new and additional ingredients and novel combinations of ingredients are continuously sought; however, the choice of ingredients could pose difficulties insofar as they must improve the lifting capability of the composition without being detrimental to other properties of the composition such as its application, rheology or viscosity properties and/or resulting into more disadvantages such as increased damage or a less healthy look to the hair. It is therefore, important to provide the consumer with a hair lightening or lifting composition and method that can lift the color of the hair in an efficient manner, not only to the degree of lift desired, but also with the added benefit of obtaining better lift compared to current products and methods without resulting in more damage to the hair. At the same time, it is also desirable that such a composition and method can provide other advantageous properties to the hair such as shine, conditioning, and a healthy appearance to the hair. Furthermore, it is preferable to formulate such compositions that are less costly to manufacture by requiring less ingredients and/or lower levels of ingredients.
Thus, the objective of the present invention is to obtain novel compositions for lifting or lightening the color of the hair. Another objective of the invention is to obtain compositions that impart desirable shine to the hair and other advantages to the hair such as conditioning, a healthy appearance and less damage to the hair. Finally, it is an objective of the present invention to provide a composition that effectively lifts color with lowered cost of production.